Tuesday, April 04, 2006

DELAY TO RESIGN

Breaking news:Tom DeLay will not seek reelection. According to the Post, the disgraced former House majority leader "told House allies last night that he will give up his seat rather than face a reelection fight that appears increasingly unwinnable".The writing was clearly on the wall, wasn't it?Now let's hope that the justice system punishes him accordingly for his various and sundry transgressions. He may be the face of Republican corruption (see here), but he's also a criminal who must be held accountable. Resignation isn't nearly enough.**********Update:More from the Post, more on the "federal criminal investigation that already has reached into his inner circle of longtime advisers": "DeLay faces a trial later this year on money-laundering charges in Texas that stems from an October 2005 indictment related to corporate contributions to state elections in 2001 and 2002. Since then, two former aides and one of his most prominent contributors have pleaded guilty in a separate federal probe to crimes including conspiracy; wire, tax and mail fraud; and corruption of public officials."Good stuff.

7 Comments:

Well, I'm not sure it was all that suddenly. I suspect that he'd been thinking about leaving for some time and that he'd had discussions with his allies about his future political prospects. My guess is that he was nudged out -- he's a huge liability for the GOP, after all. And he's not a stupid man. He must have known that he'd never again secure a position in the Republican leadership -- and, of course, he was surely watching local poll numbers closely. Rather than face the sting and embarrassment of defeat (rather than fighting for his political life), he chose to walk away. But, of course, he won't go far. Many in Congress owe their political fortunes to him and I suspect that he'll continue to wield an inordinate amount of power. Plus, he has all those connection on K Street. (What, he'll go back to pest control? No, politics is his racket and he isn't about to give it up.) We won't have DeLay to kick around anymore in public, but we'll just have to look behind the scenes for his Oz-like presence.